Runners
by Paper Lilly Webs
Summary: Sollux and Karkat are Runners, children with supernatural powers, cast out from their families. Constantly hunted by the Batterwitch's warriors, Sollux and Karkat are the only ones to fight back. Taunting, pestering and stealing from the Batterwitch makes them hot targets for bounty hunters, but these two boys have more up their sleeves than you'd expect. Urban AU, main cast.
1. Prologue

Two sets of sneakers race down the wet pavement, gliding nimbly over bits of trash and the mice that have made their home in the dark alley. Two heads bob in and out of the light of the streetlamps, one head midnight black, the other burgundy red. Two sets of feet leap off the ground in unison, straight at the cement wall marking their final escape. Two sets of hands find purchase on the rough top.

One set of hands catapults their owner clear over the wall. The other set twists their bearer's body to spin their feet around and over the other side.

Two bodies land on the opposite of the wall, and two sets of ears listen to their hunters' defeated shouts. Two boys high-five quietly, grinning, but do not stop their hurried pace, because these two boys know what happens when you steal from the Batterwitch's private reserves.

* * *

I guess it all started with the fifth-grade relay race. It was an annual competition within our class, to see which team would get two hundred dollars towards college tuition. My family was pretty poor, so I spent all summer training for the relay, and prayed to god that I wouldn't be paired with some slowpoke that would cost me yet another race. After five years of failed attempts, ~this was the year~. I told myself this everyday throughout the school year, until I was paired with Karkat Vantas.

I'm not one to judge a book by its cover, but I couldn't help thinking I had been paired with the worst kid in class.

Karkat Vantas was rumored to be homeless, living under the bridge with his dad. It was also rumored that he'd killed a police officer when he was three, though I was far from believing that.

But still, Karkat was shorter than I was and not quite as thin, but then again, who was? I'd never seen him run, even in PE, because he would always hang near the back, never exerting himself. Judging by his stature, I thought he'd be far slower than me, and probably everyone else in the class.

On the last day of school, our class had gathered on the track field, and were allowed one lap jogging warm-up. Karkat lagged behind everyone else by half the track. Yeah, I was about to murder somebody.

We were all called to our starting positions, and I took my place, making sure my shoes were tied and the baton was gripped firmly in my hand. I would be running first, passing the baton to Karkat halfway around the track. From there, he'd be able to completely fuck up my chances of getting that two hundred dollars.

The starting gun fired, and I leaped into a sprint. I sailed past the others, but what was the point? I paired with Karkat-freaking-Vantas. I closed my eyes as I prepared to pass the baton, feeling it slide through my fingers like that tuition money would.

Boy, was I in for a surprise. No sooner had the baton left my hand, I felt a gust of wind that made my eyes fly open. Holy shit, that kid was like a rocket.

Karkat was sprinting faster than I had been, keeping the lead of over one-hundred yards to the very end. The other teams' second runners hadn't even come close!

As Karkat's feet crossed the finish line, our entire class let out the biggest cheer I had ever heard, and I decided right then and there that I would never be surprised by Karkat Vantas again.

But he still does. Every. Fucking. DAY.

When it comes to surprises, Karkat Vantas isn't one to let you down. Take my word for it: I've been running with him for four years, and he hasn't let me down, not once.

* * *

**A/N**: Ok, Just a super short teaser. I'm currently working on the first chapter right now, and it's much more interesting than this bit makes it seem XD

Charcoal and Scars readers, I haven't given up on you! I just have to get this idea out, and if I don't start uploading it now, I'll never get around to writing it, and I really want to, because I'm kind of in love with the storyline.

I was inspired by a picture in a SolKat video. And shit, it doesn't fit in the cover photo, so the one I have'll have to do. I don't like it.  
But HUGE thanks to Kardiasteria for finding the picture for me! If you guys want to see it, I can send you a link or something, but its basically just Sollux and Karkat jumping over a wall XD You can see where that inspired this story, can't you? XD

Ok, thank you for reading! I'm not at all happy with this chapter, so tell me what's wrong, or what you don't like, and why, and I'll fix it! I don't bite, I promise!

This'll turn back to present-tense after the first few chapters, because they aren't with the present story-line, like you see in the very first paragraph, before the line-break

Okays, I'm done.

Caio for now!

~Webs


	2. Back Story: Headaches

**A/N**: Duh duh do, terrible chapter. Writer's block for the most part is the cause of this, but it's over all just bad. I'm sorry, so please don't base all my writing, or the rest of the story, on this, because I promise it'll get better. I just have to get into the story myself.

Ok, thank you those you have read this so far! Charcoal and Scars readers, I'll upload chapter 26 soon, okay? ^-^

Caio for now!

~Webs

* * *

**BE THE BLACK HAIRED YOUTH OF THE PAST**

I owed Karkat a lot after the relay, but I didn't speak to him, even to thank him. Sixth grade passed without one word spoken to each other, hardly a glance exchanged in the hallways. Perhaps I didn't like owing him anything, or perhaps I was waiting for him to make the first move.

He didn't, not until mid-way through eighth grade.

It was after five o'clock when I decided it was time to leave the school. Loitering was something I was very good at, when I didn't want to return home. Younger siblings sure took away the joy of the end of a school day.

I sighed and pushed open the door to the playground, walking out into the chilly November air of Skaia's finest city. It wasn't cold enough for snow, not yet, but it sure brought a bite to the breezes nicking at my exposed hands and face.

As I was stuffing said freezing hands into my pockets to try to combat the winter weather, I was hit with a crawling feeling, as if someone was watching me.

I turned my head and looked back at the school, which seemed to be where the look was coming from. At first, I couldn't see anybody, but then my eyes fell on the roof, and on a boy crouching there. He was perched on the eves of the roof like a gargoyle, and he was looking _right at me_.

He had reddish-brown hair with what looked like faded black tips, had even redder irises and was wearing gray jeans and a gray and black sweatshirt. There was a funny red symbol on the pocket, kind of looking like a six and a nine turned sideways.

Something about him looked familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it until he called out my name, confirming that he had indeed been looking at me.

"Sollux Captor." I turned myself completely around to let him know I was listening, and spied a hand-woven, black necklace around his throat, bearing a small silver feather charm.

It was then that it dawned on me.

"Karkat Vantas?" He jumped off the roof and landed easily with eerie, cat-like grace. He didn't move from the spot where he landed, watching me with his rust-colored gaze. Had they always been that color, and I had just been too scared to look in his eyes? And his hair. I distinctly remember it being ashy-black when we had won the race in fifth grade. "Long time no see, Vantas." My lisp of fifth grade was gone thanks to extensive speech therapy by my aunt, and Karkat raised his eyebrows, as if remembering aforementioned lisp.

"Long time to see." His tone was careful, as if he was wary of me. If anything, I should have been wary of _him_. It looked like he had been waiting for me to leave the school. Why wasn't I disturbed by that fact?

"Is there something wrong?" I inquired, cocking my head to the side curiously.

"You haven't... seen anything strange recently, have you?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Strange how?"

"Strange as in dangerous." He said that with a completely straight face, so I was unsure if he was screwing with me.

"No, I haven't seen anything. Why?" He looked away, chewing his lip thoughtfully.

"Then it hasn't happened yet..." He muttered quietly to himself.

"What hasn't happened yet?" Over the past three years, ever since the relay, people had spread some pretty crazy rumors about Karkat, some including gang-involvement, drugs, and stealing, among other... less-savory things. I didn't believe any of them, except for the one my best-friend had told me: Karkat Vantas didn't... _see_ things the same way as we did. I could certainly believe that.

Karkat met my gaze for a split-second, then turned away.

"Nothing." With that, he started walking, leaving me confused as fuck.

"H-Hey! Wait! You're not just going to leave, are you?" He cast a smirk over his shoulder at me, and didn't pause until he reached the gate leading around to the front of the school.

"Be safe on your way home, Captor. Not everything is what it seems."

* * *

I kicked a piece of gravel angrily, sending it skidding about ten feet before it hit a trash can with a clang. I took pride in being the top of my class, and feeling stupid was not something I was used to. And right then, I felt pretty stupid.

Like, what the hell had Karkat been saying? I didn't have a fucking clue, and that just made me angry. Who the hell did he think he was anyway? Telling _me_ to be careful? _He_ was the one who was homeless!

All the way home I pondered Karkat's warning, and wondered what he could have meant by "dangerous". Everything was fucking dangerous in Derse. Only people with a black belt could walk around after dark, and those who didn't were jumped and either killed or beaten to the point of disability. A kid in my class, Tavros Nitram, had been unlucky enough to be caught outside after night had set in, and he had been attacked by one of the most notorious gang-leaders Derse had to offer: Vriska Serket. It was a miracle he had survived and had only been paralyzed. It could have been worse, like what happened to that Hussie kid.

I shuddered in remembrance. Andrew Hussie had been a senior in highschool, and was a famous web-author. He killed off one of the main characters, and was jumped by a rabid horde of fans. It took the police weeks to recover all the pieces of him.

"Sollux!" A little girl's voice giggled loudly. I shook myself from my revere and found I was already home, and Aradia was scampering down the steps of our house. I grinned and knelt down to welcome her hug.

"Hey, AA. You miss me?" She only giggled in response, telling me to lift her into my arms. I complied, and would have made it through the front door, if it had not been for the explosion of black hair and grins that had collided with my legs.

I laughed and scooped up Aradia's twin, Feferi, as well and finally made it into our small home. It was far too small for a family of our size, but we made do. Along with Feferi, Aradia and myself, there was also our older siblings Eridan and Equius, and Equius' girlfriend Nepeta was staying with us while her parents were remodeling their house.

I set the twins down before walking into the kitchen, where my two dads were cooking dinner. Most people assume, to avoid any confusion, that we called them by their first names, but we just called them both dad. They were generally very good about guessing which one we were asking for.

Dad #1, Jaden, looked up from the frying pan and smiled, his blue eyes twinkling.

"Welcome home, Sollux. How was school?"

"Fine." I sat at the breakfast table, pulling out the remains of my homework; I usually do most of it at school during lunch and recess. I only had to finish a couple math problems, then I'd probably have to entertain Feferi and Aradia until dinner.

"Um, Sollux, can we speak to you for a moment?" I looked up, both my dads stopping what they were doing to join me at the table.

Their serious faces made me nervous, and I slowly closed my math book to give them my full attention.

"I something going on?" They exchanged a glance.

"Sollux, we've been meaning to tell you, but we've been putting it off, way longer than we should." I felt my stomach curl apprehensively. "Your father and I... We've decided to get married."

I let out the breath I was holding with a huff, sliding almost out of my chair.

"Jesus christ." I mumbled breathlessly. "That's it?" Dad #2, Daniel, furrowed his brow confusedly.

"What else would it be?"

"N-Never mind." I raked my fingers through my hair, trying to shake my unease. Karkat's warning had made me jumpy beyond belief. "Dude, I'm really happy for you guys. When's the wedding?"

* * *

It was when we were cleaning up from dinner that it happened. I was carrying my sisters' plates to Equius, who was at the sink, and everything was completely normal, until a headache hit me like a gunshot.

I dropped the plates and let them shatter on the floor as my hands flew up to my head and my knees buckled underneath me. I was vaguely aware of shouting, Feferi and Aradia's panicked screams, and several people shaking my shoulders, but when what feels like an elephant is trying to blend your brains with a blunt steak-knife, it kind of distracts you.

The only time I had ever gotten a headache before then was when I had a cold followed by a fever, but that was nothing compared to this. This made me completely lose any recognition of the world, wracked my body with trembles, and I could only see darkness. Darkness and a sharp pounding that made me want to scream, but I couldn't find my voice. Wave after wave of blinding pain cut its way through my head, and seemed to take a little bit of my sanity with it.

Then there was something else. A... A voice? It was yelling something, and I didn't recognize it as one of my family members. It seemed warped, as if trying to make its way to me through motor oil. It took several tries, but it finally made its way to my ears.

"SOLLUX!"

My eyes flew open, my headache disappearing in a flash, leaving behind only a slight, dull throbbing.

My family surrounded me in horrendous panic, and even Eridan looked concerned. Nepeta had a phone in her hands, having apparently called 911; Equius was trying to calm my sisters down by shielding me from view, and my dads refused to let go of my shoulders. They were yelling for Equius to get Feferi and Aradia up to their room, for Eridan to stop standing there like an idiot and go get me a jacket.

I pondered why for second, then my dads noticed my eyes open and told everybody to shut up.

"S-Sollux?" I slowly removed my hands from where they had tangled themselves in my hair, and drew several, shaky breaths.

"Are you alright?" My gaze found the blue one of Jaden's, and I nodded, though the movement caused me some pain. What the hell had just happened?!

My mind immediately jumps to Karkat's warning. That didn't have anything to do with this, did it?

"Nepeta, you told the doctor we're bringing him over?"

"Of course." Was her squeaky response. Great, I'd scared the living shit out of her.

"Sollux, we're taking you to the hospital, okay?" Absolutely no complaints there. I wanted to know what the fuck was wrong with me.

* * *

"W-What... What the hell is a psionic?" I managed to get out, staring intently at the shiny floor of the hospital room. My whole family, dads included, were shut outside, with only the tiny window through which to see me. Why weren't they letting my dads in? This seemed like some pretty serious stuff, stuff, you know, was _worthy_ of being told to your parents.

"You're gifted, Mr. Captor. Gifted with something extremely rare." I glanced up at my doctor, some nut with sandy hair and a lab-coat. I honestly didn't like the look of him, and he seemed just as ready to dissect my brain as he was to give me a lollipop.

"What do you mean gifted?" He smiled, and it looked either kind or homicidal. I'll always hate people that have faces like that.

"Some of Derse's citizens, people like you, have special gifts allowing them to use powers normal humans can't. Yours are very much like psychokinesis, but we call it psionics."

"Psychokinesis is when you can move shit, right?" He nodded. "U-Um, why can _I_ use psionics?"

"We don't know why certain people have these abilities, but we _do_ know how to teach you to use them." I glanced at my family, wanting desperately to have someone in there with me.

"W-Why can't my dads be in here?"

"Because they aren't cleared to have this information." That made me jerk back around to face him.

"What do you mean ' they haven't been cleared'?"

"Mr. Captor, you must understand. You have a very rare gift, and many would want to exploit that. We must keep you secret, we must keep you safe." And hell, I believed those words.

Maybe it was fear that allowed me to be led through the door on the other side of the room, away from my family, or maybe I had just gone completely batshit crazy. Either way, it thrust me headlong into some deep shit I probably didn't want to get involved in.

* * *

**A/N**: I don't like how most of the chapter went, so if you have any ideas how to make it better, tell me! I don't bite!

Or, you know, just review for the hell of it, because those always make me happy ^-^

Oh yeah, Guest who uses ":0)", thank you for your review! And what are you talking about? Everybody's writing could use improvement, mine included! Also, I don't think you write THAT bad. I hate saying this, but it just takes practice XD

Caio for now!

~Webs


	3. Back Story: The Blur on the Bridge

**A/N**: This is longest chapter I have ever written. Over four-thousand words, and I still wasn't done with my train of thought. This'll have to do.

I don't like the beginning, 'cause I was writing it yesterday, when I was having trouble writing anything, and it came out as complete crap, but the second bit got better. All the zodiac shit was spur of the moment, I have decided will be very important in the future.

Just a note on that: they are based on just some of the personality or weapon traits associated with the signs, and are not necessarily in parallel with the Trolls. While Hussie did keep some of the associated personalities with the Trolls, not all of them are perfect, and he used quite a bit of artistic inference, so not all the meanings of, say, Aquarius are in direct relation to Eridan. Make sense?

THANK YOU FOR READING AND REVIEWING! IT MAKES ME SO HAPPY TO KNOW YOU GUYS ARE LIKING THIS!

Caio for now!

~Webs

* * *

**CONTINUE TO BE THE BLACK HAIRED YOUTH OF THE PAST**

"Mr. Captor, these nice people will take you to a safe house, where you'll be with others that have powers." The doctor directed me to two guys in suits, who were waiting by a car with blacked-out windows. That probably should have been my first clue.

But _damn_, that car was nice. Beige, plush seats welcomed me, and the soft purr of the engine was quieted by all the leather that seemed to encase the thing. It would have been extremely comforting, if it had not reminded me of a padded room.

I sat between the two guys in suits, and they refused to look at me. They kept their silence, eyes hidden behind dark shades, like I was in some kind of spy movie. I had caught a peek at their hollisters, and both had two pistols hidden under their blazers. They were completely tense, always looking out the windows, as if waiting for something. That should have been my second clue.

But me, being scared out of my fucking mind, did not take either of these clues as anything of importance, not until the third clue made itself apparent. _That's_ when I decided I needed to get the fuck out of there.

Said third clue was when we crossed the bridge, taking us over the river and out of the city. I'd gone out of the city once as a family outing, and I can assure you, it's completely _empty_. Nothing for fucking thousands of miles. I doubted there was anything between here and Prospit, our sister city, which lay over ten thousand miles away.

The driver seemed to know that too, because he pulled over, just on the other side of the bridge. The two suits didn't relax, instead tensing _more_, if that was even possible. I saw one reach inside their jacket for their gun, and that was about the time I kind of started to freak out.

I needn't have though, because I was about to be treated to yet another surprise by Karkat-freaking-Vantas.

* * *

Something landed on the roof of the car with a very loud THUD, jerking all our heads upwards, followed by a light scurrying sound over the metal. Then a window on our left exploded, seemingly on its own. We were showered with the glass, but didn't have any time to recover before the windshield exploded as well, knocking the driver unconscious. One of the suits grabbed my collar and the other took out his gun to point it at me. He barely got his hand on the hilt though, before his door flew off, and something dragged him out of the car. Me and the other suit watched somebody yank him over to the bridge railing, and then haul him over, as if he was nothing but a sack of flour.

At this point, I was eager to see the assailant, but they were gone from their place by the railing before I could blink, and apparently on the other side of the car to yank the last suit out, unfortunately taking me with him.

The suit's grip did loosen enough in surprise for me to be thrown to the dusty asphalt of the road. The breath was knocked out of me, so I lay there for a second, reclaiming it. Once I had enough oxygen to survive, I forced myself over onto my stomach and blurrily watched the suit being taken down by a streak of gray and red.

The attacker was nothing but a blur, landing punches and kicks before the suit could even react. The suit looked pretty comical, flailing around like that, trying to find purchase on any form of skin. Out of sheer luck, he eventually did land one blow, but that was enough to send the blur flying. I watched as it came skidding to a stop twenty feet down the bridge, remarkably still on his feet. I still couldn't tell his identity, thanks to all the dust kicked up by his skidding, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew him.

I watched him slowly straighten, but then he wasn't there anymore, and there was a strangled scream coming from the suit.

I jolted into a sitting position, staring as the suit slowly keeled back onto the ground, the blur sitting on his chest. There was a gurgling sound emitting from the suit, and, for some reason, I wanted to throw up.

Then the blur stood, though he wasn't a blur anymore. He looked like a kid, barely my age! In the flare of the sunset his hair looked like it was on fire, and his eyes even more so, when he turned to look at me. Was it possible to have such brilliantly colored eyes?

I felt frozen in place, even when the kid made his way to me through broken glass and the car door and crouched down in front of me. I was a little distracted by the fact that he was familiar.

"Are you alright?"

"K-Karkat?" He grinned, flashing a mouth of immaculate teeth. Are everybody's canines that pronounced?

"Glad you recognize me, Captor. That makes this all much easier." He stood and offered down a hand, which I hesitantly took.

I looked around at the wreckage of his attack, refusing to believe he was the one who did it all.

"H-How did you... do all this?" He laughed.

"You didn't think you're the only Runner in Derse, did you?"

"Wait, you a psionic too?" He shook his head.

"Nah, those are pretty rare, though not as rare as others." He grinned again, and he looks genuinely happy. "Damn, Sollux. I should have known you'd be a Runner." I was about to ask why he kept calling me that, but his grin snapped as he seemed to realize something. "Shit, it's almost dark."

"Yeah, people'll probably try to jump us if we don't get inside soon."

"I'm not worried about the people. I'm worried about the river."

* * *

He had barely given me time to comprehend what was going on before he grabbed me by the arm and yanked me towards the end of the bridge, where the metal became dusty desert. Around the edge of railing, the cliff sloping down to the river was almost vertical, and looked like it would be pretty painful to slide down.

I should have known we'd be doing just that.

Without any hesitation to speak of, Karkat pulled me behind him and laughed at my reaction of, you know, flipping the fuck out. I was correct about the fact that the way down was painful, with sharp stones and scraggy desert plants, but there was something very comforting about Karkat's hand gripped around mine.

Before I knew it, we were at the bottom of the slope, and a beach of smooth stones stretched about ten feet in front of us. The bridge cast ominous shadows in the dying light, blanketing much of the river in complete darkness.

I could see what Karkat had to be worried about: with the appearance of the moon, the river's water level was already rising, lapping further and further up the beach.

"Can you swim?" I glanced at Karkat, who was taking off his hoodie and tanktop. Shit, we was ripped. "Hurry up and take off your clothes."

"E-Excuse me?" He was already stripping down to his boxers and making a bundle of his clothing.

"If you wanna have dry clothes on the other side, I suggest taking them off now." He threw a belt at me; he'd apparently been wearing two. "So, can you swim?"

"I-I guess..." I timidly followed suit, and made a makeshift parcel with the belt holding it all together,telling myself it was stupid to be embarrassed by how thin I was. Karkat made no remark of it, for which I was thankful.

"I don't think we'll have to, but it's later than I thought, so the river might get a little deep near the middle."

"Why can't we cross the bridge?" He gave me a look like I was insane.

"After that little show up there?" He jerked his thumb at the destroyed car. "Nah, we'd be killed before we got halfway across. Plus, it's easier to get to Crabdad's from the beach."

"So you actually live under the bridge?" He shrugged.

"More or less. You'll see when we get there. C'mon, the river's not getting any warmer." He wasn't kidding: I thought I was stepping into a glacier.

Karkat told me to hold my clothes above my head so they wouldn't get wet, and he did the same, and I'm sure to any passerby, we'd have looked idiots. But who's going to be looking in the river?

When I'd voiced this question aloud, Karkat laughed, and told me half the Batterwitch's guard were going to be looking for us. I didn't ask who the Batterwitch was; I didn't want him to know I didn't know fuck about what was going on.

Karkat was right about the river getting deeper in the middle; it almost reached my armpits, and it had cleared Karkat's shoulders. And it was _freezing_. By the time we'd reached the middle, my teeth were chattering, and I tried clamping them in my mouth to keep them still, but that did almost nothing. Karkat laughed at that, though he looked just as cold as I was.

I was infinitely glad when we reached the other side, and when Karkat said it was fine to put my clothes back on. Have you ever tried to put jeans on while you're wet? Don't ever do it.

Karkat seemed to have no trouble, as he was dressed and scouting for anything hiding in the shadows by the time I had got my pants halfway on. He must have done this a lot.

When I'd finally managed to dress, Karkat was watching me incredulously.

"Dude, in the future, steer clear of skinny jeans." That's when I noticed he was wear loose-fitted jeans, and realized those would have been much easier to put on than the skinny ones I had been wearing.

"Duly noted." I muttered, and followed him as he beckoned me further down the beach, towards the underside of the bridge. I was still shivering, as my boxers were soaked through with ice-water, and Karkat noticed.

"We're almost to Crabdad's. You can borrow some warmer clothes there."

"Crabdad's" turned out to be "Crabdaddy's", a seafood restaurant on the edge of the river, nestled just in the shadow of the bridge. It looked a little seedy, but homey. It was decorated with a huge, blinking red sign with a crab on it and several large pieces of white driftwood. The lights inside were very welcoming, and there were even a few people eating there.

There were people. After nightfall. In a _restaurant_.

Karkat, oblivious to that phenomenon, led me around to the side door with the warning "NO ENTRANCE" painted on it in bright red paint. Ignoring said warning, Karkat pushed open the door, which connected right to the kitchen. There was a burly man wearing a stained apron flying around the kitchen, flipping something here, adding spice there. He didn't appear to have any helpers save for a teenage boy lounging lazily at the cash register. He looked kinda stoned, his head tipped so far back to stare the ceiling, his mass of curly black hair tumbled halfway down the back of the chair he sat in.

When we walked in, the burly man looked up from the grill, eyes finding me with surprise.

"Hey, Crabdad. I picked up the Runner I was talking about." Karkat took off his hoodie and through it over the front counter. At first, I thought "Crabdad" was going to start yelling or something, but instead, he straightened, wiping his hand on his apron to lightly slap the boy with the curly hair.

"Gamzee, wake up you lazy git and go get this poor boy some new clothes." The one called Gamzee snapped to attention, literally saluting before sauntering off through another door. I looked down at myself, realizing my clothes were a complete mess. While they weren't wet, it seemed the glass from the car had torn through several places, and there was a gaping hole on the left side of my sweatshirt, from what, I had no idea. "Welcome to Crabdaddy's, sonny." Crabdad smiled at me, and I hesitantly took his offered hand, casting a nervous glance in Karkat's direction.

Karkat laughed.

"So, Crabdad, he can stay right?"

"Of course! Any Runner is welcome here!" Crabdad returned to his cooking, and I nudged Karkat with my elbow.

"Seriously, why do you keep calling me a 'Runner'?" Karkat rolled his eyes, taking my arm to tug me through the door Gamzee had gone through.

The room we entered was large, easily fitting three beds, two desks and what looked like half a library begirding the left side of the room. At the end of each bed was a large trunk, two of which were closed tightly, but Gamzee was rooting through the the third.

Karkat left me standing by the door, with a quick "Wait here a minute", and went over to the bed closest to the window, which was also the smallest. Karkat stepped onto his bed, the springs creaking loudly, and reached up to the ceiling, pulling down a trapdoor. There was no ladder or rope to climb, but Karkat easily pulled himself up into what I guess was the attic. It really shouldn't have surprised me; he _had_ ripped the doors off a car and thrown a man three times his size over the side of a bridge.

"Here you go, motherfucker." Gamzee stood in front of me, holding up a new pair of jeans and a comfortable looking sweatshirt. "Sorry 'bout there being no shirt. 'Couldn't find one your size."

"I-It's fine." I took the offered clothing. "Thanks." Gamze just shrugged, an easy grin on his lips.

"No problem, motherfucker. 'See you 'round." With that, Gamzee left to go back to the kitchen.

There was a loud grunt from the other side of the room, and when I looked, Karkat was hanging upside down out of the trapdoor. He had his lower legs tucked over the edge of hole the trapdoor made like some kind of trapeze, and was struggling to drop a fold-up cot onto his bed.

I set the clothes Gamzee had given me on a chair by the door and hurried over to help him with the cot. Damn, that thing was heavy. We managed through joint effort to get the cot onto the floor without Karkat breaking his neck, and once we were both on solid ground, he mumbled his thanks, but said he could have handled it.

I laughed at that.

Karkat showed me to the bathroom in the corner of the room, telling me to get changed while he found some kind of blanket. I waited for him to completely leave the room before changing quickly. The pants Gamzee gave me actually fit me, though I couldn't say as much for the sweatshirt: it had to be at least three sizes too big, but it was suuuper fuzzy on the inside, so I didn't mind. A shirt would have been nice though.

When I left the bathroom, Karkat had located several blankets and a pillow, and was fitting a sheet on the mattress of the cot. He looked up from his work, smirking.

"The sweatshirt looks a little big."

"Shut up." He laughed.

"Just toss out your old clothes. They're no good." He gestured to a large trash bin by the bathroom door, but I hesitated. What I'd done was kind of coming back to me now: I had run. I had left my family behind, and these clothes were the last tie I had to them.

Karkat watched me linger by the bin, and, almost as if proving something, I tossed them in rather forcefully. I turned back to Karkat, ignoring his gaze.

"So, you gonna tell me why I've been labeled a Runner?"

"Well, it'll take a bit, so go ahead and sit down." He jerked his chin to the chair, which I moved closer to him while he busied himself with making my bed. I straddled the chair backwards and waited patiently for him to begin.

He took a deep breath as he fitted a pillowcase around the pillow.

"Ok, so you already know you're a psionic, right?" I nodded. "Then someone told you have powers most people don't?"

"Yeah, my doctor."

"Filthy gits, the lot of them. Anyway, about one thirty-sixth of Derse's population have special powers. Some, very few, are psionics like you, others have animalistic characteristics, some have even been known to fly, but the vast majority don't even know." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What do you mean?"

"Have you ever met someone who can do complex math problems in their head? Or someone who's really good at calming people down?" He shrugged. "They're all like us, their powers just aren't as highly developed, and aren't as noticeable. They haven't been found by the Batterwitch. 'Course, she doesn't give a fuck about math problems, unless its counting how many people she's killed." I tasted blood and realized I had been chewing my lip rather forcefully. I quickly stopped.

"That doesn't explain what a Runner is." He shot me a glare.

"I'm getting to that!" I closed my mouth pointedly. "So, these people with powers. Many of their powers develop around their fourteenth or fifteenth birthday, and, if the powers are noticeable enough, the people start freaking out, going to doctors, to the police, I've even seen someone go to the postmaster. Unfortunately for them, anyone remotely connected to the government is thereby connected to the Batterwitch, and it all goes downhill from there. You were headed in that direction, if you hadn't noticed, by the way."

"You mean with the suits?"

"Yep. They were gonna throw you over the bridge, dumbass. You do know there is literally _nothing_ between here and Prospit?" I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Actually, I do know."

"Well, you shouldn't have trusted your doctor. He's the one who told you to go with the suits?"

"Yeah."

"You know, I didn't really take you to be such an idiot." He had finished making my bed by now and was stretching the bend out of his back. Having done that, he plopped down on his bed, yawning tiredly. "Well, I'll take into account you were probably scared shitless." I rolled my eyes.

"Thank you for being so generous." He ignored me and continued, rubbing his face with his hand.

"So, anyone with powers that goes to some official for help is killed, make sense?"

"Yeah."

"There are some, some who are smart enough to run. Gamzee was one of the smart ones."

"You mean he has powers too?" I perked up, immediately interested. "What can he do?"

"Mess with people's minds mostly. His probably aren't as powerful as yours are gonna be, but he can still practically scare people to death. He's also pretty good with numbers, and that's good, because Crabdad can't count for shit."

"Are there other kind of powers?"

"'Course. I already mentioned a few. Some have whiskers and tails, some can fly, some can scale a skyscraper in a matter of minutes. Some can hear stuff coming a mile away, some can do shit with glass, like break it on command-"

"Like you can?" He burst out laughing. "What?"

"I don't have a shit power like _that_!"

"But what about earlier, with the car?" He sat up, still shaking with mirth.

"Jesus Christ, you're a riot! Sollux, I broke those windows with my fist." He showed me his knuckles, tiny little cuts dotting them like spider webs.

"Oh. Sorry about that." He waved his hand passively.

"No biggie. I've had worse." Like how much worse? I had just caught a glimpse down by the river, but scars were something Karkat was not unused to. I could even see some now, with his arms exposed without his hoodie.

"So, um, what are some other powers?"

"I've met someone who can tell you your deepest fear. Another guy passed through here a couple years ago, claiming he could turn invisible."

"Claiming?"

"He never did prove himself, but none of us saw him leave." He smirked, laying back down. "Crabdad used to know this cat burgler that could make things spontaneously combust, and Gamzee once dated a dude who could make plants grow at will. Anyway, there are a shit ton of powers, some rarer than other."

"Like psionics?"

"Exactly. Crabdad and I have only heard of about a hundred people who have psionics."

"A hundred is a lot of people."

"Not when compared to over 27,000,000 people with powers."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So anyway, the majority of these people either don't know about themselves, or were smart enough to run away. That's what Runners are, Sollux. People with powers who haven't been killed by the Batterwitch. That's why there are so many of them roaming the city without the common people knowing. There are some safe houses for Runners, like this Restaurant. You saw that symbol below the crab on the sign?" I shook my head. The neon lights of the sign kinda made it hard to look directly at it for more than a second. "Then wait here a sec." He went to one of the desks, rooted through it for a second, then came back with a pad of paper and what looked like a quill. A _quill_. I watched him as he carefully opened a pot of ink on his knee before dipping the end of the quill into it. Then he was quickly sketching a number of symbols on the paper. "Ok, pay attention, because I'm only going to explain this once. This symbol here," He drew two backwards parentheses with a line through them. "means the Batterwitch. We mark buildings and streets frequented by the Batterwitch's henchmen with these. This one," a lowercase N with a loopy thing on the end. "means Hunters."

"What are hunters?"

"People not under the control of the Batterwitch that hunt Runners. There's a good many in Derse right now, and you're gonna have to learn how to fight if you're gonna survive." He turned back to the paper, drawing an arrow with a line across the center, kind of making a cross with a point. "This means someone from the Batterwitch's elite is out. They specialize in bow and arrows, thus the Sagittarius sign."

"Sagittarius?" He glanced up at me, still bent over the paper.

"Duh. You didn't realize these are Zodiac signs?" I shook my head again. "Do you know anything about Zodiac lore?" Another head shake. "Jesus. Ok, well the Zodiac signs are usually associated with something specific, like the Sagittarius is associated with the bow. The Capricorn," he pointed back the funny shaped N. "is more often than not connected with rage. Hunters are kind of known to be bitchy, angry guys that don't know when to stop. Is any of this making sense?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"Ok then. This one, Virgo," A M with an extra little hump. "means a safe place to sleep. We have one out on our sign. Virgo is associated with mothers, therefore safety. The libra," an omega sign with a line underneath it. "is used when something happens in Derse that needs fixing. The Libra is a set of scales, meaning justice, so Runners, when they see the sign, will meet at the designated house of the week to discuss how to change something."

"Designated house of the week?"

"Crabdad's restaurant is part of a group of people with big places to hold meetings. We change houses every week, so people aren't constantly flocking to the same place. The Leo," a circle with a squiggly tale, "is associated with cats, so Runners use it to tell others that something covert in going down in a building or street. If we see one, we don't go into that building or street, 'cause we'd probably fuck up what they're trying to do. The Taurus," a circle with what looks like two branches coming out of it. "is associated with the bull. This usually means we're making a frontal assault on Hunters or Elites. We don't do that often, so if you see this somewhere, get the fuck away."

"What if its just an old one?" He shook his head.

"One we've already done something, we scratch out the symbol. You going to see a fuckton of scratched out symbols. Just ignore 'em." He drew another symbol, this one two sharply waved lines over each other. "We use Aquarius very rarely. It means a full-blown rebellion, and I think the last time it was used was in Prospit about ten years ago. The Gemini," that one looked kind of like the Roman numeral two, but with curved lines on the top and bottom. "is used when there's a dispute between two Runners, with two different opinions." He was silent for a moment as he drew another M looking one, but instead of the extra hump like Virgo, there was an arrow coming off the end. "We use the Scorpio when we have a traitor within the Runners. We're usually pretty tightly banded, but every now and then, the Batterwitch ropes a Runner in and uses them against us. Heard of Vriska Serket?" I sat up with surprise.

"The gang leader?"

"That's the one. She's the very definition of a Scorpio. She turned against us about three years ago, getting a lot of followers in the process, but most of them are just normal humans."

"Isn't she our age?"

"Nah, about five years older. Still, she's pretty young to be controlling her own gang. Anyway, if you ever see someone's marked down a fresh Scorpio, tell Crabdad or Gamzee. They know how to get the information out safely."

"Got it." Damn, this was a lot to take in. I tell myself to keep the paper and memorize all of their meanings.

"The last one is Aries." That one looked kind of like a stick that had been split down the middle, with part of the two halves making curved branches. "This means somethings been discovered, usually about the Runners. There're some Runners working in the deserts, looking through the ruined cities to see if there's anything out there as to why we even exist." He leaned back onto his hand, scratching his nose with the quill and leaving a black streak of ink.

I cocked my head, burning all of the symbols into memory. Twelve zodiac symbols meant twelve meanings. Capricorn meant Hunters, Sagittarius meant Elites, Scorpio meant traitor...

_There's only eleven._ I recounted, and sure enough, there was one sign missing. I listed them off in my head: Taurus, Aries, Gemini, Capricorn, Aquarius, Scorpio, Virgo, Leo, Pisces, Libra, Sagittarius...

"What about Cancer?" Karkat tensed, jaw clenching.

"Cancer doesn't mean anything." He hissed, looking away.

"What do you mean 'it doesn't mean anything'?"

"I mean it doesn't mean anything! Cancer is useless! It has no purpose for Runners!" I didn't understand what he had to be angry about then, and I wouldn't for a long time, not until he was bleeding out in front of me, and I could do nothing about it.

* * *

**A/N**: I have a couple things for you readers to ponder. One: Should I make this SolKat, or keep it as friendship? Two: Should I Sadstuck? I have a great idea how to end this in a Sadstuck, but also a way to end it happily, so you guys get to choose! Three: I swear I had a three, but it has completely slipped my mind. I'll get back to you on that.

Anyway, thank you readers, followers, favoriters and reviewers!

I'm not gonna lie: I love reviews. They keep me motivated for the next chapter, and I love hearing your guy's thoughts on the story! You help me improve my writing, and for that, I'm eternally grateful! ^-^

Okays, I'm done.

Caio for now!

~Webs


	4. Back Story: A Book of Runner Secrets

**A/N**: AAAAAAAnd you're all terrible. I counted all the people that wanted Sadstuck, and the people who didn't (and counted one for each for those who said either), and they came out even, so NOW I have to choose for myself, and none of you get to know until the end (:{ That is my Christmas gift to you all.

Okays, just warnin' you all: I DO NOT LIKE THIS CHAPTER. Say what you want, but I feel like I'm losing my touch with writing. I think its all the past-tense stuff, because I've grown so used to present-tense with my Charcoal and Scars fic. I don't like how little detail I'm giving, but when I put more in, it seems too much, and... I just don't like it.

Oh, and I don't know if I'll make it SolKat yet. People raised very good points for both parties, so I'm not sure. We'll see how the story progresses.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR READS, FOLLOWS, FAVORITES AND REVIEWS! EVERY LITTLE THING MAKES MY DAY!

Sorry it took so long to upload; I was at my annoying grandparents', and I didn't have internet. I wrote the majority of this on my iPod, and then rewrote it in WordPad, so I'm not sure if things are confusing. I still do spell-check though, so I don't think there are any of THOSE kind of mistakes, but if a sentence in confusing or something, tell me!

Caio for now!

~Webs

* * *

**BE THE RED HAIRED YOUTH OF THE PAST**

Headaches don't plague most Runners, because many of their powers don't require the use of the mind. Unfortunately, when your powers use nothing BUT the mind, you tend to feel like the entire world is trying to force itself into your head by brutally shoving everything else out. They don't come in waves; no, they come all at once, relentlessly. When they hit, all you can do is fight back screams and wait for it to pass.

They always came at night, or early in the morning. Everyone else was always asleep when the universe decided it was time to try and kill me again. They didn't come every night, though they came far from sparingly. It was happening more often too, close to every other night, and I found myself wishing I never had powers. I would have gladly traded my powers a hundred times over if it meant the headaches stopped. Hell, I would have done _anything_ if it meant the headaches stopped.

I thought Sollux might get headaches too, but his powers were new; the migraines wouldn't be as painful, and psionics don't require the full use of the mind. Mine do, meaning the morning after I picked up Sollux was pretty much hell, except for the fact that in hell, you can scream about it. You can't scream about it in close proximity to three other people.

It was around one o'clock that morning when it hit, and left around six, leaving me with five hours of unbearable torture; longer than usual. They usually came and went within two hours, but Crabdad was already getting up to cook for the breakfast rush by the time it stopped.

I kept my face buried in my pillow until I was sure Crabdad was occupied with cooking. When I heard him turn on the big wok, I slowly rose from my bed and slipped into a pair of jeans. I didn't feel like looking for a shirt, as my clothing chest was rather creaky, so I climbed out the window above my bed shirtless.

Based on the training I had started when I was barely four, it was a piece of cake to climb up the drainpipe to the roof. I guess it also helped that I knew exactly where to place my hands and bare feet. The last handholds on the edge of the roof were worn from use, and that made it a little harder to pull myself up, but it wasn't nearly as hard as pulling a door off a car. Now _that_ was hard.

On the roof, the beachy slope up to the city stretched out in front of me. I could barely see the snaking path connecting the city to the beach because of the fog that blanketed the ground as much as the river. It made it look like the restaurant was on the waves rather than next to them. It must have been freezing, but I didn't notice; I always felt feverish after a migraine.

I groaned and slumped back onto the cold metal roof, my legs still dangling over the eves. I wouldn't be able to return to school for several weeks, but Sollux would never be able to. They knew for a fact that he was a Runner, and they would kill him before he set foot in the city again. His family wouldn't remember him, of course. I was willing to bet that doctor erased all memory of him; even the kids at the school wouldn't remember anyone by the name of Sollux Captor.

I sat up again, fists clenching against the roof. That was the problem with this fucking city: Anything different from their own was killed, and then all memory of them was destroyed. Far too many people had been forgotten; maybe that's why I fought so hard against the Batterwitch, because I had been forgotten too.

I rubbed my face with my hand, trying to wipe away the exhaustion. I couldn't let Crabdad know I hardly slept last night. I didn't _want_ him to know. I hated pity, and that's all I got when people knew how much I suffered. Gamzee knew of course, but that was against my will, though I didn't blame him. He couldn't control it, so it wasn't exactly his fault.

I stayed up there for several hours, hearing the sound of Runner and normal people alike going in and out of Crabdaddy's. I listened to their trivial conversations of weather, gas prices, school tuition and the like, wondering what it was like to lead a normal life like that. What would it be like to have your biggest worry be who was winning the Super Bowl?

You don't know how much I wished for a life like that.

It was around nine when Gamzee started waking up, marked by the honk-like grunt from the room below me. It usually took a good hour for Gamzee to fully wake-up, but I wasted no time in climbing back down to my bed. Gamzee was barely half awake, and Sollux still looked sound asleep, so I padded as quietly as I could past Sollux's cot to locate a shirt. My chest opened as loudly as a fucking foghorn, but it roused neither my new friend nor my self-proclaimed brother.

I pulled on a good work-shirt, wincing as the course material brushed my raw knuckles; breaking glass with just your fist isn't as much fun as it sounds. As I was searching under my pillow for the leather wristband Gamzee had gotten me last year for my birthday, the cot springs creaked and Sollux grumbled something that sounded like "KK?"

I looked back at him, to find him staring at me through blurry, half-lidded eyes. He seemed confused about whether to go back to sleep or start attacking me.

"KK?" He slurred again, confirming my suspicion of him still being mostly asleep. KK must have been a friend, or some family member that he left behind. He seemed to wake up a bit, rubbing his face. "What time is it?" He yawned. I rolled my eyes and, having found my wristband, reached over to shut the blinds against the rising sun peaking through the window.

"Far too early to be. Just go back to sleep." He grumbled again, but obeyed, turning over and hiking his blanket up to his neck.

Satisfied he'd be asleep for at least another hour, I put on a pair of shoes and joined Crabdad in the kitchen, who definitely needed help with the coming lunch-rush. I fell into the routine gratefully; anything to relieve my mind of Runners for a while was greatly appreciated.

Early on, Gamzee and I agreed I'd have the morning shifts, and he the afternoon and night shifts, because I was an early riser mostly thanks to my migraines, and at night? At night I had a job to do.

Based on aforementioned agreement, Gamzee wasn't required to take over until one o'clock, but I had been working barely two hours when he came out of the back room, a sleepy Sollux trailing behind him.

Crabdad told me there were few enough customers for me to start on our own breakfast. Since I knew Crabdad wouldn't eat unless I made him, and Gamzee was like a fucking carnivore in the morning, breakfast was a normal chore for me. Crabdad had been teaching me to cook since forever, so I easily had a plate of eggs and bacon ready for both Gamzee and Sollux within ten minutes, and was currently setting the plates down in front of them at their table in the corner. As I was turning around to start Crabdad's breakfast of shrimp and cornbread, something shot through me like a bolt of lightening.

Rage. _Murder_ rage.

I had mastered the art of masking my emotions, so only Gamzee noticed the flicker of fear that passed over my face, but he said nothing about it. He just watched me make my way back into the kitchen with a sad frown on his lips. I still don't know if its because of his powers that he always knew how I was feeling, or if it was a testament of how close we were because of what we'd been through. Yeah, Gamzee knew more about me than anyone, and he was probably the only one who deserved to.

Rage was a common emotion in Derse, common enough for me to usually block out, but every now and then (actually way more often than I'd like to admit), someone's rage toppled over to the point of killing someone. I _always_ felt that.

While grilling Crabdad's shrimp next to where he had a couple halibut fillets going, I felt a headache creeping up. I knew it wasn't going to be a migraine; I could always feel one of those coming, but it still brought a potent enough wave of exhaustion for my hand to slip and nearly burn on the stove. I swore softly, trying not to bring attention to myself, and it mostly worked, except I saw Sollux watching me out of the corner of my eye. He leaned over and whispered something to Gamzee, who in turn looked up at me as well. I tried to ignore them, but both were rather terrible whisperers.

"Is something wrong with Karkat?" I heard Sollux whisper to Gamzee.

"Motherfucker had a rough night." Was Gamzee's whispered response. "'Ts been happening more often than usual."

"What has?"

"Hmm... 'told me not to talk about it. Sorry bro." I sent a silent 'thank you' to Gamzee, which he picked up on and smiled.

I think Sollux noticed the exchange, but made no remark of it. In fact, he just looked kind of confused, though Gamzee's power more often than not confused people.

_Sollux probably doesn't even understand all the powers_, I thought to myself while washing a few customers' dishes. _I bet the book would help..._ I was thankful when my shift ended, so I could beckon to Sollux to follow me. He rose from his seat without hesitation. That was good: he trusted me, and that'd make everything else easier.

"Get comfortable. You're going to be here for a while." I told him when we'd reached the back room, going over to one of the bookshelves on the left side of the room. Having memorized the placement of every book there, it wasn't hard to locate the one I wanted. The book I took from the shelf was big and heavy, and leather bound, covered in stains from repeated readings at the dinner table.

I handed it to Sollux, who dropped a little at its weight and looked up at me in confusion.

"Start reading, kid." His eyes just widened.

"What, the whole thing?"

"Of course. Almost everything we know about Runners is in there, compiled by Crabdad and a couple other guys a few years ago. There's stuff on almost every power we know of, there's a couple chapters on the Batterwitch, and a huge section on psionics." His mouth was slack in a gape, trying to read if I was serious or not. "If you're going to survive out there, you need to know _what's_ out there."

"What do you mean 'survive out there'? Won't I be going home?" Silence.

Did he seriously think he'd be able to go home, after what happened on the bridge? After he was almost killed by the Batterwitch's henchmen?

"You're kidding."

"No, I'm not." He set the book on his cot before facing me again, anger speckling his features. Fuck, I could see a whole argument coming, and I honestly didn't have time for that right now. "Why can't I go home?"

"Sollux, once you've been discovered, they aren't going to let you return to your life before. If you try to make any contact to your family, the Batterwitch will know, and will know it was you. They'll find you and kill you, Sollux. It isn't _safe_ to go back." This was the sad truth I had grown up with, that Gamzee had grown up with. Having these powers stripped us of our lives, stripped us of any future life. That's why Gamzee was so adamant that I go to school: because it was the only normal thing I could achieve as a Runner, as a hunted.

"Yeah, how do you know?" Of course Sollux would want to return home; it was completely understandable, but he'd be putting his family in as much danger as he'd be putting himself in. "What if I snuck back, and didn't go back to school or something. I could still live with them, right?"

"Sollux, they won't even remember you." He closed his mouth with surprise, then his hands clenched.

"What do you mean?"

"Jesus Christ, do you know _nothing_? The Batterwitch is completely capable of erasing memories! Why do you think no one's heard of the increase in murders the past ten years?"

"What the fuck are you talking about? What murders?" So he really did know nothing. I had kind of expected the common people to completely forget all of their comrades, all of the soon-to-be Runners that had been killed over the past ten years. That _was_ the Batterwitch's intention, after all.

Hunters weren't ones to brag, so families didn't even know they had another son, or another daughter, or another niece. They didn't know their sister had been killed, their brother murdered.

"Sollux, I don't have fucking time right now." I really didn't; I had a job to do before night fell, and having this conversation with Sollux right now would certainly take hours, hours I didn't have to lose.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't!" I ignored his shocked look, and grabbed my hoodie. "Read the book. When you're finished, tell Gamzee. He can get me and then we can talk about your family."

* * *

Having read the book countless times myself, I knew Sollux would be occupied past the time Crabdad would close up for the night, if he read it at all, giving me ample time to scout for my next target.

I found it pretty quickly; it's kind of hard to miss the massive cloud of dust caused by a semi-truck coming down the desert road from Prospit. It was probably heading for the center of Derse, where all the major stores were, meaning it had all the supplies we needed.

I listened intently to the sound of the truck from my perch on the third-support of the bridge, and calculated it would take five hours to reach said bridge. That was plenty of time to get the things I needed and some lunch; I still hadn't eaten. Gamzee always hated it when I didn't eat, and was always concerned for my health, because if he wasn't, who would? Crabdad didn't give a shit, and my parents-

I cut that thought off before it got any further and started climbing back down the metal supports. This being the only bridge in and out of Derse, it was large, green from the weather, and looked kind of like a smaller version of the old Golden Gate Bridge. It was Derse's pride and joy, but it was hardly used, since Prospit was so far away; there was no _reason_ to leave Derse.

Sollux was indeed reading when I opened the door to the back room, and seemed very intent on ignoring me. That was fine, since I really didn't want to restart our conversation.

I rooted through my trunk and quickly found my leather satchel, smoke pellets, rope and a hook-ended dagger. I shoved everything into the satchel except for the knife, which I strapped around my thigh with its similarly leather strap.

"KK?" There was that name again. I looked at Sollux, to see if he had been napping or something, but he was wide awake and watching me with confusion.

"What did you just call me?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"What, 'KK'?"

"Yeah, you called me that this morning too."

"Oh, its just quicker than saying 'Karkat'." I opened my mouth to ask him why he felt close enough to me to call me by nickname, but he cut me off with a hurried "Why do you have a knife?" I shrugged, knowing he wouldn't understand what I was doing. He was far too much a model citizen for that.

"It's just easier." He snapped into a glare, a ferocious one at that.

"You're planning on doing something illegal, aren't you?" I sighed, combing my fingers through my bangs.

"From a previously good citizen's perspective, yeah, probably." That didn't seem to make him feel better at all, as he put down the book to give me his full attention.

"Then it's something dangerous as well, right?" Wait, wait. He was _concerned_? Jesus, this kid got attached easily.

"Sollux, sometimes the Batterwitch needs to remember we're still here, and we're still a threat." Plus, it's difficult as fuck trying to get good fresh halibut in the river, and Crabdad never cooked with anything but the best.

"What are you going to do?" He probably hadn't reached the Batterwitch chapters, so he wouldn't know about the supply trucks, about the branding, or about the Purge.

I sighed again. Sollux wasn't going to let up without a full explanation, was he?

"Shit, I really don't want to be doing this right now." I muttered, swinging my satchel over my shoulder. "Sollux, I would love to explain every little detail about my life, but right now, I honestly have no time. Just know its important." He got to his feet defiantly.

"And dangerous." I grumbled exasperatedly.

"_Yes_, it's dangerous! Saving your fucking ass was dangerous too! Being a Runner isn't exactly clouds and cupcakes, Sollux!" He didn't back down, even from my shouting. Damn, he must feel adamant about this.

"Why does the Batterwitch need to know that you're still alive? Aren't you hiding from her?"

"Jesus Christ, Sollux! I don't have _time_ right now. I need to do this, and it's important!" I took a deep breath, then, coming to a snap decision, grabbed an extra sweatshirt and threw it at him. "Put that on if you want to see for yourself."

* * *

**A/N**: Um... I don't think I have anything to put down here.

OH! Yes, I'm being extremely vague with the city, and the Batterwitch, and stuff because I want the readers to experience it along with Sollux. Next chapter will explain what KK's doing with a knife a semi, though I'm pretty sure its obvious XD

Okays, THANK YOU ALL FOR READING! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Asking for reviews in rather annoying and desperate, but I will take any you give me. Seriously, if you hate something, tell me why, and I'll fix it, just for you! ^-^

I'm done now. Oh, I might not have the next Charcoal and Scars chapter up until after Christmas! DX I have hardly anything written for it, and I'm going to be soooo busy tomorrow, so I'm sorry if I can't have the Christmas special up for Christmas!

Caio for now...

~Webs


	5. Back Story: In Preparation to Attack

**A/N**: Hey look, I'm not dead XD Sorry this took so long to update, and sorry it's so short. I have to get back into the story, but hopefully I'll be updating more consistently. I've kind of abandoned the past few days, thanks to my new Ao3 account XD I was figuring out stuff there, and kind of forgot about this site ^_^'

It won't happen again -_-

So anyway, a few notes:  
First: I make a reference to ID chips in this, located in the wrist. I probably won't explain too much within the story itself, so I'll just tell you now that to keep control of Derse's citizens, the Batterwitch orders everyone to be tagged with one of these ID chips. It's nothing really huge, and I probably won't do too much with it in the story.  
Second: I make more references to KK's powers, and they're supposed to be as vague as I've written them. And by vague, I mean you glean almost nothing from it. The reason for this is we're learning things along with Sollux, so you guys'll know more when KK explains it to Sollux. It'll still be extremely vague throughout the story, because it's a main plot line, but I'll explain enough so it makes sense and isn't too confusing.  
Third: This is a pretty crappy chapter. As I said, I'm not quite back into this story yet and it'll take a bit for me to do so, but hopefully it won't take too long ^-^  
Fourth: In response to a review, yes I know Tav and Vrisk don't dream on Derse. Neither does KK, if you noticed. This isn't a fic concerning who's dreaming where; I just have them as two cities, and Derse always seems darker, so this is where I decided it would take place.  
Fifth: I have a fic going over on Archive of Our Own, which I don't have here, so if you're interested in that, search PaperLillyWebs or "69 SolKat Prompts", and it should come up.  
Sixth: I have given up on the past-tense shit. I cannot physically handle it anymore, so all chapters from here on out will be in present-tense. I hope none of that bothers any of you ^-^

Ciao for now!

~Webs

Oh, and yes. Sollux is afraid of heights. You will not tell me otherwise.

* * *

I try not to go too fast for Sollux, as I have been climbing the bridge my entire life, but _damn_ is he slow. I guess trees aren't common enough in Derse for Sollux to have any experience with climbing, so I try to keep that in mind, but by the time we've reached fifty feet of a two-hundred, I'm so annoyed, I join him on the metal support he's currently clinging to and fix him with a glare, which he notices and grimaces apologetically.

"S-Sorry I'm going so slow. I'm just n-not really used to," he gulps, glancing over the edge of the bridge, then squeezes his eyes shut. "used to heights." Oh, Jesus Christ. He's afraid of heights. Of _all_ the people to be stuck with, I get the one afraid of _heights_.

_Well, you _did_ take him along in the first place._ I slap my subconscious and let Sollux regain his composure.

Then I realize if we're going to make it up to the platform I had built around the fourth horizontal support in the next hour, Sollux is going to have to be going as fast as _me_, and that gives me an idea. I look Sollux over, and judge he'd certainly be light enough. 'Kid is like a fucking twig.

"Climb on." I tell him, turning and kneeling down.

"W-What?"

"You're taking fucking forever, and we'll go faster this way." He's silent for a moment, then complies with the offered piggyback, and Jesus Christ, does this boy _ever_ eat? "Hold on tight." He's certainly stronger than he looks, because he manages to stay latched on without my help, and doesn't slip once with my quickly moving body as we climb. We definitely make faster progress, and I find it actually rather easy to move with him. At the fourth support, which marks one-hundred and eighty feet above the river, Sollux lets out a stifled gasp at what Crabdad and I has made ten years ago: spanning half the width of the bridge is a wooden platform, where there's a rolled up sleeping bag, a large lantern and a first-aid kit tucked under a tan tarp to blend in with the unpainted wood.

I hoist my body onto the platform with some difficulty, then let Sollux get his footing before letting go. He quickly turns to face me, pale and a little... worried?

"U-Um, thanks for the lift."

"Yeah, well you were fucking slow." I shrug, though I'm not nearly as irritated as I come across. I drop my bag to the flooring and kneel down to root through it for the rope, which, once I've yanked it out, I take over to the edge of the platform facing the desert. I quickly knot one end of the rope through the sturdy steel ring that's attached there then straighten and look out across the desert. There, in the blinding flare of the sunset, is the cloud of dust created by the supply truck I plan on intercepting.

"Is that a sandstorm?" I laugh at Sollux's inquiry as he joins me.

"A little thing like that?" I laugh again, ignoring a confused glance cast in my direction. "Nah, that's a truck carrying supplies to the center of the city." I turn back around to pick up my satchel and sling it back over my shoulder.

"You're... you're going to steal from it, aren't you?" I look up at him in surprise; he's a good head and shoulders taller than me, and apparently smarter than I gave him credit for. Does the fun ever stop?

He's watching me with a confused, but level gaze from his place near the edge. I meet said gaze, but am unsure how he's going to react.

"Yes, I'm going to steal from it. Unfortunately, that's kind of my job." He looks away, fists clenching.

"Wh... What about the other people who need things from it?" I huff, rubbing the back of my neck in annoyance.

"I'm not going to steal _all_ of it, Soll." His eyes flicker back at his new nickname. "Just what Gamz, Crabdad and I need; which isn't much, actually."

"Are you, um... going to be fighting?" I shrug again, rejoining him and keeping my eyes locked on the approaching truck. We have maybe ten minutes before it gets here.

"If it's heavily guarded, yes. If not, I just use smoke as a cover to get what we need and go." I see him nod slowly out of my peripheral.

"You won't, you know, _kill_ anyone, right?" Geeze, this kid is just full of surprises.

"Not if I can help it."

"And yesterday. You couldn't help that, right?"

"Just a bundle of questions, aren't we?" I grumble. "Yes, yesterday I couldn't help it. If the suits were allowed back, they'd know who I was and who rescued you. They would have killed us if we tried to run with them still alive."

"Oh. I see." He shuffles his feet for a second, and he looks like he wants to say something.

I snort. "Well, spit it out."

"Um, why can't you just buy stuff in a store?" This time when I laugh, it's harsh and short.

"What, with this branded on me?" I pull up my left sleeve and yank back the leather armband. There, settled just below my hand, is an elegant upper-case 'R', its leg twisting into a lowercase 'n' before blending into another 'R'. It's sickly pink compared to my rather tan skin, and I don't have to look at it to know what lies there; I remember the day it happened well enough to have the symbol burned into my memory as well as my flesh.

"W-What is-"

"Did you really think store clerks were checking for your ID chips when you paid? Nah, they were looking for Runners." He looks up at me in confusion. Jesus Christ, he'd hardly gotten anywhere in the book if he hasn't made it to the Purge yet.

"Looking for Runners?"

"Yup. Any Runner found before Christmas three years ago has been branded with this mark, this... proof of ownership." Whoops. Yeah, judging by his expression, he has no idea what I'm talking about.

I sigh. "Jesus fucking Christ, you have a lot to learn." He looks miffed at this, but it's not like I really care.

"No need to be snappy." He mutters, crossing his arms with a huff. Shit, he must have been spoiled rotten, 'cause the way he sticks out his lip is god-fucking adorable. Hmm, perhaps I can train him to use it on the Hunters? "Dude, why're you staring at me?"

I shake my head, kneeling down to recheck the rope. "'Not important right now." I straighten again, securing my satchel again and checking the nearing approachment of the truck. _Five minutes at the most._ "Okay, no matter what happens, you stay up here. I've already saved your ass once, and I don't want to do it again, got it?" He nods silently, a firm set to his lips telling me he's still annoyed with me. "That means even if they kill me, you don't move down from here until they've been gone for thirty minutes." He looks surprised by this, and opens his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "They'll probably torture the hell out of me first, but no matter what they do, _do not move_." He mutters something, but I ignore it. "And while all this is going down, stay low. They'll be looking for anyone who might be helping me, so don't let them see you." He nods jerkily.

"Fine, as long as you don't let them kill you." I snort. Remember what I said about him getting attached easily?

Actually, this might just be because I trespassed on his consciousness during his first migraine. Can empathetic connections last after the instigator leaves?

I shake my head again. The truck's too close to be thinking about this, and I need to be completely focused to pull this off. Sollux seems to know this too, because he backs off slightly as I pick up the rope in preparation to slide down it. I pause as Sollux puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Be careful, KK." I just nod, then jump as the semi reaches the bridge beneath us.

* * *

**A/N**: Duh duh duh! Now we know who was shouting at Sollux during his first migraine. (If you don't remember, someone yelling his name roused him. That was KK, which I'll explain later XD)

You know, I feel like I had a whole bunch to say down here, but I don't remember anything : /

I was thinking of doing the next chapter either from KK's perspective, or a third-person, soldier-centric perspective. Which one do you think would explain the fighting scene best?  
Oh, and how soon do you want to learn about KK's powers? I was thinking after they get back to Crabdad's would be a good time.

Aaaaand I have no idea what else to say, so ciao for now!

~Webs


	6. Back Story: What It Takes To Steal

**A/N**: Oh my god, I am so sorry. I hadn't realized how long it's been since I updated and I feel fucking terrible -_-'

I can't promise I'll update frequently, but I'll try. I've finally figured out how I'm going to end this, so I just need filler for a while. Oh, and I'm thinking about adding in the humans? I hadn't planned on it in the beginning, but as you can see in this, I've referenced the Egberts. Do you think I should add them?

On other matters: Thank you to everyone who's favorited, Reviewed and Followed during my impromptu hiatus! I'm so glad so many of you are liking this, and I'll try to be more consistent!

Ciao for now!

~Webs

* * *

Sliding down the rope with one hand, the other holding his knife, Karkat lands on top of the truck with an involuntary thud, a curse leaving his lips softly as the truck swerved to a screeching halt stop. He'd hoped to avoid fighting, but that seems unlikely now.

If he had any hope of getting what he needs, he'd need to take it first, then deal with the soldiers.

Swearing again, he stabs his knife down, easily slicing through the metal of the truck in a wide arc. Once he's done that, he stands, slamming down the heel of his foot on the slice mark, making a hole large enough to fit down. He quickly jumps inside as the truck comes to a complete stop, ignoring the sound of the soldier's feet on the dusty asphalt , and begins searching through the boxes. Tarragon, bandages, burn cream, halibut, Faygo, notebooks and a knife sharpener go into his satchel, the boy grabbing a couple boxes of peppermints and some of the fish crackers Crabdad adores at the last second.

He straightens, looking up at the hole he'd made, quickly gauging the distance before crouching, then leaping off his toes, easily clearing the edge and landing with a foot on either side of the hole. Ignoring the soldiers for a second longer, his eyes find the rope, which is unfortunately about forty feet back, with one of the soldiers trying to reach it.

If he did, he'd find Sollux, which Karkat will not allow.

The boy breaks into a sprint across the top of the trailer, making sure his bag is secure at the same time, and hurtles off the truck, landing about twenty paces from the semi, pulling all of the soldiers' attention to him, and away from the rope situated at the tail.

He feels Sollux's panic above him, but blocks it and filters that part of his mind to only feel what the soldiers are feeling and thinking.

He slowly turns to face the twenty-or-so soldiers, snapping to a glare and savoring the surprise that he's only a kid. Several start charging, bringing up their guns or knives respectively, and Karkat sighs, sliding into a ready crouch, closing his eyes for a moment to bring a memory to the front of his mind.

_"When they're coming at you, your body is going to naturally panic. Even the most skilled warrior will falter when outnumbered and outgunned. If this happens, what do you do?" The small boy looked up at the much larger man, feeling a warm breeze play though his hair as they stood on the pebbly beach. "C'mon, kitkat. What do you do?"_

_"Bob and weave."_

_"Exactly! Never make the first hit, especially if they charge first. Duck under their arms, dodge their weapons, anything you can do to get behind them. Then what?" The man grinned at Karkat._

_"Throw them off their balance or get their weapons from them." Crabdad nodded._

_"Good. What do you do if you can't get behind them."_

_"If they have a gun, stay as close to them as you can so they can't shoot you, and if they have a knife, stay out of arm's-reach."_

_"On guard." Without any other warning, Crabdad charged at him, throwing his full weight at his small frame._

_Instead of feeling the promised panic, the boy was completely calm, and easily ducked under his arms, feet twisting lightly on the stones until he was behind the big man, leaping off his toes to land on Crabdad's back. From there it was easy to use Crabdad's forward momentum to push him to the ground, Karkat sitting silently triumphant on the laughing man's shoulder blades._

The boy's eyes fly open as he leaps forward, bending around the first and knocking him into the asphalt. He swings his leg all the way up kick another's face to the ground, using his body as a springboard to slam the next two against the front of the truck.

All of their fear and panic is nauseating, but through it all, he picks up anger and spite from one of them, and whips around, barely managing to dodge the bullet flying in his direction. Not giving the soldier time to reload, Karkat dives at his legs, landing on his hands with his knees around the man's shoulders before flipping his entire body over himself, the soldier's head hitting the bridge with a crack.

Straightening, he realizes everyone except the drive had run, and he starts dragging the bodies off to the side of the bridge and out of the way of the truck. Once he has, he too stands to the side, nodding to the driver to continue. The petrified man takes several seconds to register that he's letting him go, then steps on the gas so hard, the truck leaves tire tracks on its way back into the city.

"Karkat?!" His head snaps around to look up at the platform, where Sollux is half-hanging over the side in worry, so Karkat just smirks up at him.

"Aw, you were worried about lil' ol' me?"

* * *

"How... How did you do that?" Karkat shrugs, leading a half-stupefied Sollux across the bridge and towards the stone steps on the other side that would lead to Crabdaddy's without having to wade through the water.

"It's part of my powers." He tells him, before adding a muttered "Or lack thereof," under his breath. The psionic doesn't seem to hear, pondering his words silently.

"And... what _are_ your powers?" Sollux speeds up a step as Karkat starts down the stone steps to the beach.

"Eh, nothing special." The redhead hedges, quickening his pace to avoid the question. Sollux catches onto the ploy immediately, frowning.

"Don't pull that shit with me, KK. I think it's only fair if you tell me."

"Well, life _isn't_ fair, is it now?" He retorts, hands stuffing themselves in his pockets in agitation.

The two of them quickly make it into the kitchen of Crabdaddy's, greeted once again by a furiously working Crabdad, and a lounging Gamzee. The curly-haired boy looks up as soon as they walk in, eyes falling on Karkat and lazy grin abruptly turning into a frown. Karkat hates how well the other can read his face.

He sends Gamzee a look that says "Don't ask", and the clown nods obediently, returning to his lounging. Sollux notices the exchange, but doesn't say anything about it.

"You get the halibut?" Crabdad asks from behind the big wok. Karkat nods, slinging the bag from his shoulder and opening it, taking out the fish, Faygo and Tarragon for use in the kitchen.

The boy is suddenly engulfed in a hug from behind, a painted nose pushed into his hair. "Aw, thanks for the Faygo, Karbro. That was mighty sweet of you." Karkat smiles slightly, tipping his head back to look at him.

"Don't mention it; you were almost out anyway."

Sollux watches in silence, intrigued by their relationship. Gamzee notices and immediately releases him, tousling the redhead's hair before returning to his post. Karkat sends a quick glare at Sollux, then turns to Crabdad.

"I'll need to go into town tonight." The man stills his working hands, looking down at his work silently. "The truck didn't have any bullets or flour."

"Are we out already?" Crabdad asks quietly, still not looking up and only increasing Sollux's confusion.

"Yes, and if the Egberts are going to go through with their plan, they need amo. They can't get it on their own, and you know that."

"And you can't wait for the next truck?"

"Of course not. We don't know when that'll be, and there's no guarantee they'll have what we need." He keeps a steady gaze on his adopted father, knowing his aversion to trying to steal directly from the Batterwitch was justified, but they _did_ need these things.

"I don't like you going out there alone. Not after what happened to Aradia."

"Gamzee can't come and Sollux isn't trained yet. I don't have a choice." He finally looks up a little, meeting Karkat's gaze.

"You could die."

"I could die doing anything I do." Sollux opens his mouth to say something, but Crabdad cuts him off.

"I will not allow it, Karkat."

"I can do it, Crabdad. They can't touch me, and you know it."

"There's always the possibility."

"They. Can't. Touch. Me." He stands his ground, knowing Crabdad would eventually give in.

It takes an intense staring contest between the two before he does, the big man sighing, and relaxing his shoulders. He slowly returns to work, not looking at Karkat anymore, and not saying a word.

Karkat waits a few seconds longer to see if he'd start talking again, then turns and beckons Sollux to follow him into the back room. The confused brunette follows, biting back questions until they're in the quiet of the room. "Um... What just happened there?"

Karkat looks up from unloading his pack onto his bed, gaze level and stern. "What do you think it was? I have to do something Crabdad doesn't want me to do, that could possibly kill me." There was really no way to say it nicely.

"What are you going to do?" The redhead straightens, and walks past SOllux to the bookshelf, moving some of the tomes aside to get at a little box, which holds a silver knife.

"I have to steal from the Batterwitch. Sometimes we can't get stuff from the trucks, like you heard out there. Bullets used to be available from the trucks, but they're becoming harder to find. Gamzee and I think they're bringing stuff like that in with helicopters." He tucks the knife into the back pocket of his jeans, putting the box and books back.

"And?"

"Well, we need those things, so if I can't get them from the truck, I have to get them from the Reserves." Sollux freezes, suddenly understanding.

"You're going to steal from the _Reserves_? That's suicide!" On the inside of the palace walls, the Empress, whom Sollux now understands to be the Batterwitch, keeps huge storehouses of supplies, unaccessible by the common people. They're ferociously guarded, even without the wall surrounding the palace, and anyone caught near them is killed on sight, no matter if they're on the outside of the wall.

"No, it's not. I've done it before." He returns to his pack, repacking it with thicker rope, gloves and what looks like a climbing harness. "If I'm careful, they won't even know I was there." He stuffs these weird, soft-soled shoes in as well.

"Even _if_ you have, this is still dangerous!" Karkat groans, not sure he can handle any more of Sollux's concern.

"Of course it is! My job isn't exactly the safest. Now, I'll be back later, so stay here." He slings the bag over his shoulder again, walking out of the room. The kitchen is completely empty, meaning Crabdad's retreated to his study, and Gamzee is doing fuck knows what. Karkat's halfway to the door when Sollux catches up to him, face set in determination.

"I'm coming with you." Karkat opens his mouth to refuse, then sees Sollux's eyes behind his glasses, and stops. Just, stops. There's something alight in his heterochromatic irises, and Karkat can't say anything to stop him from coming.

* * *

**A/N**: I don't actually know if I had anything to put down here... Oh! I know I said I'd get to KK's powers in this chapter, but I've decided to take a different rout with that. It'll all lead up to the end, so, yeah. I think I'll get it into next chapter, but no promises. It's gonna be exiting though. Just you wait.

I love you all for your support, and just- ASDFGJKLQWERTYUIOPZXCVBNM.

Ciao!

~Webs


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